Dakar (ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has begun distributing food supplies and rice and groundnut seed to 18,200 people living in Sindian, Casamance.

"Low rainfall in 2007 badly affected the harvest, and people need help to get through this period," said Juan Coderque, head of the organization's delegation in Senegal.

In the weeks to come, the ICRC is planning to provide similar aid in northern Guinea-Bissau, where a number of Senegalese have sought refuge.

Distributing this relief is part of the ICRC’s humanitarian work in Casamance and based on a needs assessment carried out in March, after the organization’s return to Sindian.

The ICRC has been working in Casamance since 2004, where it is helping renovate water-supply systems, maternity units and health centres, relaunching market-gardening businesses run by groups of women, and supporting community work undertaken by the Senegalese Red Cross Society.

The ICRC is also working to promote international humanitarian law.

For further information, please contact:
Gianni Volpin, ICRC Dakar, tel:+221 33 869 13 69
Maurice Grundbacher, ICRC Ziguinchor, tel: +221 77 644 34 57

See also ICRC media contacts

This article on www.icrc.org